Bill O’Brien likes potential of Arian Foster in passing game

Arian Foster has 189 career receptions in five seasons. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)

In the short time that Texans coach Bill O’Brien has been coaching Arian Foster, he is seeing more and more potential with the running back.

In addition to what Foster does for the Texans’ running game, O’Brien sees potential in Foster for the Texans passing game next season.

“He’s got really good hand-eye coordination,” O’ Brien said of Foster. “He’s got good hands. He is an instinctive player so he has a good idea about how to get open. And he enjoys being involved in the passing game, both on the protection and running routes. He has had a good OTA period for us.”

Foster has had his share of receptions in each of his five seasons with the Texans. In that time, he has over 1,700 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

O’Brien said Foster’s offensive versatility can help the team in a lot of ways.

“The most important thing to do is to make sure that you look at the player’s skill set and figure out how they fit your system or our system,” O’Brien said. “What we do is if we have a back for instance that is a three-down back like Arian (Foster) is, a guy that can play on first, second and third down, then you’re finding ways to incorporate him into the passing game and the running game and it really works out well for your offense.”